Friday, November 27, 2015

Reading in a Winter Wonderland

Hello and welcome to our second annual Winter Wonderland link up! Last year, The Reading Crew sponsored a winter literacy hop, but we decided to run it a little different this time. Instead of hopping with the potential of dead links, we decided on a closed link up. What this means is that there is a "map" of the blogs at the bottom of each post, so you can hop through them all at once, visit some today and some later in the week, or see what best matches your literacy needs.

On each blog, you will see a word in blue font. This is the blog's mystery word. Please be sure to record them because you will need each word for a five point entry in our raffle. To help you keep track, you can print and use THIS FORM. We are raffling off two wonderful prizes. We are giving away a copy of each book featured in our posts to two winners (K-2 group) and the (3-up group). Each prize package will include 12 books (K-2) and 13 books (3-up).

On each blog, we will be sharing a mentor text lesson using the book we've chosen. The lesson will be modeling a reading skill (comprehension or writing typically, but some at the primary level may target vocabulary, fluency, or word building). The materials that are shared may be forever freebies or may be free for a limited time. Please take note of this as you visit the blogs.

Again, we welcome you to our blogs and wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season!

We have an amazing book to share with you by the talented Lester Laminack called Snow Day!

When the television weatherman predicts a big snowfall, the narrator gleefully imagines the fun-filled possibilities of an unscheduled holiday from school. Piling under warm blankets. Sipping hot chocolate in snowman mugs. Building a snow fort. Sledding in the neighbor's field. In scene after snowy scene, from sunrise to sundown, a pair of siblings, with their father in tow, show how they would make the most of their day off. But when the family wakes up the next morning, they are in for a disappointment. No snow! As the family members pile into the car so they won't be late for school, an unexpected twist reveals who wanted the snow day most of all. (Can you guess?!?!?! It's the dad who is also a teacher!!!! Can you relate?)

One of the standards for upper grades has to do with point of view. Students have to understand the difference between first-person and third-person point of view and the impact that this has on the reader. Students need to understand that when you are reading a story from first-person point of view, you only see the story from that perspective. You only know what that character sees, thinks, and feels. However, in third-person, the reader can get a bird's eye view of what is going on with all of the characters. But, within that, they lose the connection to the character that you get from first-person. So, to set the stage for this lesson, we need to make sure students know and understand the difference between first-person point of view and third-person point of view. Students will paste the flipbooks in their interactive notebooks to have as a resource if needed later.

This is not to be confused with perspective. Sometimes it can get a little muddy explaining the difference between point of view and perspective. This is also where I would try to lay to rest any misconceptions. A story can be told from different perspectives, not to be confused with point of view.

I think it is safe to say that we have all felt the excitement of hearing the word SNOW on the television. Or is it just those of us who live in the south and rarely get snow? Either way, I think this is a definite way to hook the reader by having them connect to the very first page of the book. After discussing first and third-person point of view, it can be pointed out right away that this book is in first-person point of view. You may choose to read several pages before pointing it out. By the second page, you can get a feel for how the character feels about school. The character says "Just imagine...so much snow, even the buses can't go. No-so much snow even the teachers can't go." (This would be foreshadowing as well, which you can bring up after you read the last page, stating that the teacher is telling the story.)

The flipbook would need to be completed AFTER the book has been read because it's key that your students understand that this is being written from the perspective of the teacher. Then, the students should be able to see how the point of view impacts the reader. You may even want to reread the story so that they can think about it through the lens of the father, the teacher. It's definitely a different way of reading the story, which is where the discussion of perspective comes in. The book is first-person but through the perspective of the teacher. The story might not change too much if it was through the perspective of the children, they'd probably still want to build snow forts and drink hot chocolate, but it still would be a different story.

A way of extending this activity would be to have students write the story from a different perspective. On the paper I supplied in this freebie, I asked them to write it in first-person point of view from the perspective of the children in the story. You could also have them write it in third-person, which would definitely be a challenge, but a great extension! It's important for students to be aware in their own writing what point of view they are writing in, who their audience is, and how to really write it in a certain perspective so the reader can understand the story.

This is a forever freebie! Click the link below to get it!

Before you go, I will remind you that our mystery word is wish. You can enter it onto your sheet or into the rafflecopter below. Good luck to you, and we hope you'll come back soon.

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